I'm from East Dulwich, and love the place. However, I moved to Sydenham in 2006, and have been in our current house since (Near Kirkdale) 2009. If someone offered me a free house in Sydenham or East Dulwich, I'd choose Sydenham without a shadow of a doubt. Much greener, nicer housing stock, good schools (and everyone at my daughter's preschool got their first choice). The High Street is okay, and you'll see a lot of change over the next few years I think. And to be honest, it feels a bit more "real" than ED does these days. Plus ED is 10 - 15 minutes on a bus which runs all day and night, so all the good bits of ED are easily accessible. My only problem with it is that Estate Agents are calling Kirkdale "Kirkdale Village" and trying to make it more like East Dulwich. I don't want that. Oh, and the pubs are proper pubs. Some people may find them intimidating at first glance, but actually when you go in people chat to you and are really friendly.